Customer Reviews

Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments

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4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have to say I was wishing for fiction but after reading the introduction I knew I was hooked. I love Dominick Dunne! I have read everything he's written including his Vanity Fair articles and once again I am not disappointed. He tells these stories as if he were talking to you. His honesty and openess related to his daughter's murder gave me goosebumps. It's a quick read. I bought it yesterday and could not put it down. I finished it early this morning. Now I'm disappointed that it's over. What am I going to do until he writes the next one? Keep up the good work Mr. Dunne! And I hope you are feeling better.

This is a fascinating book told from an insider's perspective about some of the most high-profile cases ever. At times, Dunne is scathing in his criticism of the so-called justice handed out for some of the crimes committed. It opens with the poignant, at times heart-rending account of his own daughter's murder and my attention was absolutely rivetted.

This book reads like the ultimate murder mystery short-story collection. All the more disturbing because they actually happened. Dunne has a compelling style that drew me in and urged me to read on, and on, and on.

Dunne's new book is fascinating and difficult to put down. It is a collection of stories he wrote for Vanity Fair, covering the trials of O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers, and other cases.

My only complaint -maybe "suggestion" is a better word since the book was so good- is that he should have included a timeline and synopsis of each case. The stories make sense only if you really followed the case.

I think everyone would not have a problem with the OJ chapters, but I got lost on some of the other cases while reading his stories. He should have put the dates his stories appeared, so the reader can see where in the timeline of events the story fits.

Other than that, I thought it was a great book. Dominick Dunne is eminently interesting, and I love the way he writes. He would be a great dinner guest!

Anyone familiar with the writing of Dominick Dunne, its chatty, informal and curiously personal tone, will be sure to enjoy his latest book Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments. For the uninitiated, Dunne's book is a collection of his Vanity Fair articles covering the trials of such "celebrities" as O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers and Claus von Bulow.

Dunne has brought a new perspective to the art of crime reporting. In tackling so-called "celebrity" cases Dunne uses his own peerage to inveigle his way behind the facade of wealth and power to highlight and expose how very different and yet comfortingly similar the response to such cases can be in those communities - so far removed from the hoi polloi

. As he admits in the book Dunne has been accused of trying to be the next Truman Capote. Certainly there are some parallels - Dunne is a shameless name-dropper - but these articles can hardly be equated to In Cold Blood. Capote was a amorphous socialite with an interest in how crime affected "Mr and Mrs America". Dunne on the other hand writes from a more compelling perspective; after the murder of his daughter and his subsequent exposure to the criminal justice system he became entranced by its operation. In light of his background, he focused on cases which represented his milieu; American High Society.

Dunne focuses on a subject that amalgamates two driving preoccupations of the public; a fascination with wealth and a fascination with crime. Combined, the two prove an irresistible draw upon the public psyche. If left at that, Dunne's work would be no more than a rich man's Hard Copy, but Dunne has also resurrected the idea of reportage; journalism which reflects the voice of it's author. In an age when many journalists seek to mask their true sentiments behind a thin veneer of "objectivity" Dunne is refreshingly straightforward about his own. This quality alone separates Dunne from so many of his peers, but coupled with his narrative style and astute observations it brings his writings to the forefront of modern social commentary.

Well written, insightful and entertaining; Dominick Dunne's Justice: Crimes, Trials and Punishments should not be missed. More than just true crime or court reporting, Dunne's work is an important commentary on the modern American justice system and how it relates to the society which it serves.Think of it as affordable justice for all.

If you've read anything else by Mr Dunne (books, magazine articles, etc), this book will definitely match your expectations. There are clear insights into the machinations of the justice system and the information given to us as potential "jurors." Detail run aplenty, however, some of the cases run through four or five chapters....just a tad excessive. The reader needs to remember that the bulk of this book is taken from letters/articles written for another medium, consequently the book often doesn't read like a "novel", but as something much more intimate. If you've never read Dunne before, don't start with this book....try one of the earlier ones and then return here.

I've been a fan of Dominick Dunne's works, both fiction and non-fiction, for many years, but he's about to lose me as a reader. The last two titles by Dunne which I purchased were ANOTHER CITY, NOT MY OWN and this book, JUSTICE. The former was a very disappointing reading experience, the first time I'd been "underwhelmed" by a Dunne book. I wholeheartedly agree with another reviewer of JUSTICE that the constant litany of name-dropping becomes tiresome and annoying, and ANOTHER CITY was also replete with this device. JUSTICE is even worse in this regard because it is peppered with italicized inserts of catty, inane, and in many cases utterly irrelevant (to the text into which they've been dropped) remarks by the luminaries whose peer and confidante Mr. Dunne lets us know over and again he is privileged to be. To the author: *Please* return to writing the wonderful books you are capable of, books like AN INCONVENIENT WOMAN and your masterpiece, A SEASON IN PURGATORY. I realize that both those novels had their basis in actual events, but the writing was wonderful, the dialogue brilliantly constructed, and the characters well developed and believable. On the other hand, these last two books, ANOTHER CITY and JUSTICE, did not hold my interest. I felt I'd thrown my money away...especially in the case of JUSTICE, in which the author filled up several chapters rehashing a great deal of the material from ANOTHER CITY. I would definitely not recommend this book to anyone; on the contrary I would discourage anyone who might be considering buying it. I will not buy another book by Dominick Dunne without checking it out more thoroughly beforehand, and even if I decide to try again I'll be inclined to wait for the paperback version.

Any work by this author is dependably good. Dominick Dunne's life is an example of how good evolves from evil. Mr. Dunne's daughter, Dominique, was murdered by her boyfriend who served only about two and a half years for his crime. Mr. Dunne's tragedy led him to career in reporting on justice, and that he does very well. Not confining himself strictly to the legal proceedings, but in many instances, relying on the comments of those close to the participants, he learns more at dinner parties than most reporters do covering the same events. This book discusses the O.J. Simpson trial, the Menendez brothers, and others, and if I interpreted one of the remarks in the book correctly, the author is fictionalizing the Safra murder in Monaco as his next book. Despite Mr. Dunne's intimate acquaintance with the world of the rich and infamous, he obviously is a man of good heart. He says what he thinks and his decency and honesty, especially about himself, shines through. And after all he's been through in his own life, he knows the perspective of the victim too well.

While I did enjoy "Justice," it was not what I expected. I wasn't aware that the book is a grouping of Mr. Dunne's articles from "Vanity Fair." The book was off to an excellent start with a chapter about Dominique Dunne that made me cry. However, it quickly moved into numerous chapters about OJ Simpson (this was the bulk of the book). The book is worth reading if you are an OJ Simpson junkie. If you are not, I recommend skipping that part. I also could have done without Mr. Dunne's constant references to all the famous people he knows.

Having not read any of Dunne's other books, I will comment only on this one. The opening pages provide the most interesting and gripping reading: the trial of the man who murdered Dunne's daughter. I also found the story of the Menendez brothers and that of the murder of Martha Moxley especially interesting. The parts that I found interesting, however, make up only about one-third of the book. Dunne devotes fully one-half of the book to the O.J. story. It goes on and on...and on. When the author noted several time how long and boring the trial became, I was having the same feelings about his treatment of the O.J. saga. I did enjoy learning about Dunne's perceptions of the cast of characters, including defendants, victims' families, attorneys, and reporters. Dunne reports what goes on when the cameras aren't rolling. For the most part, however, the author treats each person as either a "good guy" or a "bad guy." While I understand that his experiences as the father of a murder victim probably cause this rather simplistic perspective, this and other characteristics of the book resulted in my losing interest about half-way through it. I finished the book but would have enjoyed it more if I'd read the first 80 pages and the final 20 pages.

I have never written a review like this before, and feel compelled to share my thoughts, honest and forward, to anyone considering reading this book.

I picked it up and could not put it down.
I wish I had never read it.

It is a book that is so terribly sad, especially with the story of the author's daughter's murder, and it is written with a skill that is not often seen: a combination of honesty, pithy expressions, pain, joy, and a constellation of emotions that all masterfully come together.

Why do I wish I had never read it?

If you have any connection to the court system, you already know that lying is so common place that it is frightening. People swear an oath and lie with impunity, but reading of the injustice, for instance, that this man suffered in his daughter's murder, or all the spin that OJ's "dream team" used, in short clips to reporters, feeding the public red herrings; deliberate lies, knowing that public influence will reach even a sequested jury, is just horrible to read. The glam of hollywood is sickening and reading about how terribly hated white people were by blacks supporting OJ...knowing that this woman, who was brutally murdered along with an innocent bystander, only to hear that a male black juror could say, "she got what she deserved" is sickening. It brought back all those terrible emotions as race relations in 1994 revealed a black on white hatred that I was, quite frankly, ignorant of its depth.

Reading of wealthy scoundrels like Johnnie Cochrin and others is very difficult. You wonder whether or not these talented men possessed a conscience. The only comforting thought it that in the afterlife, Providence will decree justice. The man with the long record of violence against women, of which record the judge (wink, wink to the defense attorney he was buddies with) would not allow to be admitted, served 2 1/2 years for the murder of a bright and wonderful young woman is almost more than the reader can bear. Dunne brings you into this pain; perhaps as close as a stranger can come to feeling the maddening frustration that he and his family felt during this trial. How Dunne was able to do this, is beyond me, but he did it. Don't read the book if you cannot bear to be that close to pain.

It reminds me of the story of Bob Dylan, giving an interview in 1974, after many years of not talking to the press. The woman interviewing him starts off with, "I just want to say that I really enjoy your new album, Blood on the Tracks". Dylan says, "I can't understand anyone enjoying that much pain" and gets up and walks out.

I wanted to stop reading, quite often, but continued.

Reader: proceed with caution. It is not about race, as people of decency, no matter what race, will be terribly upset by what they read.